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Bell Helicopter demonstrated its unmanned Hybrid Drive Train Research
Aircraft (HYDRA) at the first Tech Demo edition of the Unmanned
Aircraft Systems (UAS) Center of Excellence in Alma, Quebec, this
week. According to the company, HYDRA uses distributed propulsion
technology and a circular wing to “sustain wing-borne flight at
reduced power consumption, while increasing its speed and range over a
traditional multi-rotor aircraft.” The demonstration flight lasted for
40 minutes and ran through automated maneuvers including takeoff,
conversion into wing-borne flight, conversion into hover mode and
landing.

Bell hopes the research done with HYDRA will eventually allow the
company to develop passenger transports and large unmanned aircraft
that use distributed propulsion technology. “HYDRA has already proved
to be a great teacher,” the company said. “Our team has discovered the
unexpected stability of a circular wing in flight and certain control
laws that allow aircraft stability in VTOL mode, airplane mode, during
transition and even in the event of a system failure.” HYDRA is also
being used to study new hybrid propulsion technologies such as
electric and fluid dynamic power systems.

Development of Bell’s HYDRA moving forward
Posted on February 2, 2018 by Chris Thatcher
When Mitch Snyder, CEO of Bell Helicopter, unveiled the FCX-001
concept aircraft at Heli-Expo last year, he also revealed the creation
of an innovation team to “explore ideas ahead of their time.”

It was a tacit admission that the company needed to return to its
pioneering spirit — to reconnect with its innovative DNA, he said —
and marked a noticeable shift in corporate thinking. More than a
manufacturer of helicopters, Bell would also be at the forefront of
emerging technologies.

The move is in part recognition that Bell Helicopter is in an open
race to deliver the first proof of concept for an air taxi, and it has
every intention of being a leader. It’s also acknowledgement that as
more players from sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI),
autonomous systems and quantum computing engage with aerospace, the
sector could see significant disruption.

The FCX-001 was the result of a team of graphic designers, engineers
and specialists in propulsion, electronics and avionics reimagining an
anti-torque system in the tail boom, hybridized propulsion, more
sustainable materials for an airframe able to harvest and manage
energy, morphing rotor blades to optimize performance, and a flight
deck controlled through augmented reality and an AI computer
assistance system.

“The FCX-001 points the way for our future — a renewed focus on
innovative solutions and technologies,” Snyder said at the time.

The ring-wing aircraft consists of 12 off-the-shelf KDE Direct motors,
each producing 15 pounds of thrust and drawing up to 60 amps to rotate
counter- or clockwise for stability. Nine motors are positioned on the
ring of the carbon fiber skin and structure while three are located on
a central axis. The skins are held together by 3D printed aluminum
components, each designed with multi-functional purposes to connect
skins, mount motors and/or support landing gear, and provide channels
for wiring.

What separates the 55-pound HYDRA from a more conventional quad-rotor
UAV is its seamless transition from vertical take-off and hover to
flight by flipping forward.

“The idea is to take this concept and push it to the maximum,”
explained Michel Dion, manager of innovation, during a recent tour of
Bell’s production facility in Mirabel, Quebec. “Right now it is not
mission driven . . . it’s really about innovation . . . playing with
the parameters and the variables.”

Engineers have been exploring the ring or closed-wing aircraft since
the early 1900s, but it’s only in recent years that materials have
become light enough to make it work efficiently, Dion said. The intent
of the project is to gather data on flight characteristics, including
aircraft size, quantity and configuration of motors, and of blade
shapes, as well as the strengths and properties of various materials.

“This wasn’t designed for any specific mission. It was to develop the
ring-wing concept and learn the algorithms of the flight
characteristics of this aircraft,” said Kevin Morris, the engineer
behind the project.

But by understanding how the aircraft performs with distributed
propulsion, they believe HYDRA may validate a range of missions,
including passenger transportation.

“There are certain aerodynamic effects of using this type of shape,”
said Dion. “It’s not only for an urban air taxi; we’re developing
basic knowledge for multiple possible missions.”

For the autopilot system, Bell is working with ARA Robotique, a
Montreal start-up with a strategic association to the École de
technologie supérieure de Montréal. The partnership has benefited both
parties, providing ARA access to other companies in the aerospace
sector and Bell with an advanced skill set not resident in-house.

Dion said the focus of the project to date has been on “the hover
part” and the team is now transitioning to forward flight. “We are
working on developing the controllers for the three axis of control,
developing the science for how can we control this type of aircraft
with multiple rotors without having a pitch ability [for] each blade,
just with the speed of each motor. When you are in hover, for example,
the aircraft will act like a helicopter — the yaw, the pitch, the roll
will act like a helicopter. At some point when we transition to wing
borne, we have to tell the aircraft ‘You are not flying like an
airplane.’ We have to make that transfer [of] movement of the
aircraft.”

Test flight duration has been modest — about 25 minutes — and speed
has been limited, but the aircraft has proved remarkably stable in
hover and forward flight, even in strong cross winds. And while HYDRA
includes flaps that could be used to control yaw in hover and roll
while in flight, for the moment the team has not employed them,
preferring to keep the number of moving parts to just the motors and
blades.

“We have different props in mind so you can move more air,” said
Morris. “We’re going to start playing with pitch. What is the ultimate
pitch for this aircraft [to generate] forward speed?”

The project has been a collaboration between designers and engineers
in Mirabel and Bell helicopter’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
Where it ultimately leads will depend on what the team learns, said
Dion. “We wanted to prove the concept and develop our knowledge
first.”

But Bell often works with universities and industry consortia such as
the Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada and,
while it’s still at a low technology readiness level, the HYDRA
platform could serve as a testbed for academic situational awareness,
autonomy, and composite materials-related projects, he noted.
-----------------------------------------

Bell says it is ready to “transform” on-demand delivery service and
has teamed up with Yamato, a Japanese shipping and logistics company,
to develop electric-powered cargo drones by the mid-2020s. “Through
this joint effort, we are eager to set a new precedent for on-demand
delivery and future large-scale logistics,” said Scott Drennan, Bell’s
vice president of innovation. Bell plans to develop a drone that can
pick up a payload pod and reach speeds more than 100 MPH. The eVTOL
will be scalable to carry loads from 15 pounds to a half-ton. Yamato
will develop the cargo pod and work to integrate the new technology
with its existing ground logistics network.

“Through this joint effort, we are eager to set a new precedent for
on-demand delivery and future large-scale logistics,” said Scott
Drennan, Bell’s vice president of Innovation. The Yamato logo, a cat
carrying a kitten in her mouth, symbolizes the care given to every
shipment, the company says. “It is the best-known logo on the island
nation, as familiar to the Japanese as the Coca-Cola logo in the
United States,” according to Yamato.

Bell Helicopter demonstrated its unmanned Hybrid Drive Train Research
Aircraft (HYDRA) at the first Tech Demo edition of the Unmanned
Aircraft Systems (UAS) Center of Excellence in Alma, Quebec, this
week. According to the company, HYDRA uses distributed propulsion
technology and a circular wing to “sustain wing-borne flight at
reduced power consumption, while increasing its speed and range over a
traditional multi-rotor aircraft.” The demonstration flight lasted for
40 minutes and ran through automated maneuvers including takeoff,
conversion into wing-borne flight, conversion into hover mode and
landing.

Bell hopes the research done with HYDRA will eventually allow the
company to develop passenger transports and large unmanned aircraft
that use distributed propulsion technology. “HYDRA has already proved
to be a great teacher,” the company said. “Our team has discovered the
unexpected stability of a circular wing in flight and certain control
laws that allow aircraft stability in VTOL mode, airplane mode, during
transition and even in the event of a system failure.” HYDRA is also
being used to study new hybrid propulsion technologies such as
electric and fluid dynamic power systems.

Development of Bell’s HYDRA moving forward
Posted on February 2, 2018 by Chris Thatcher
When Mitch Snyder, CEO of Bell Helicopter, unveiled the FCX-001
concept aircraft at Heli-Expo last year, he also revealed the creation
of an innovation team to “explore ideas ahead of their time.”

It was a tacit admission that the company needed to return to its
pioneering spirit — to reconnect with its innovative DNA, he said —
and marked a noticeable shift in corporate thinking. More than a
manufacturer of helicopters, Bell would also be at the forefront of
emerging technologies.

The move is in part recognition that Bell Helicopter is in an open
race to deliver the first proof of concept for an air taxi, and it has
every intention of being a leader. It’s also acknowledgement that as
more players from sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI),
autonomous systems and quantum computing engage with aerospace, the
sector could see significant disruption.

The FCX-001 was the result of a team of graphic designers, engineers
and specialists in propulsion, electronics and avionics reimagining an
anti-torque system in the tail boom, hybridized propulsion, more
sustainable materials for an airframe able to harvest and manage
energy, morphing rotor blades to optimize performance, and a flight
deck controlled through augmented reality and an AI computer
assistance system.

“The FCX-001 points the way for our future — a renewed focus on
innovative solutions and technologies,” Snyder said at the time.

The ring-wing aircraft consists of 12 off-the-shelf KDE Direct motors,
each producing 15 pounds of thrust and drawing up to 60 amps to rotate
counter- or clockwise for stability. Nine motors are positioned on the
ring of the carbon fiber skin and structure while three are located on
a central axis. The skins are held together by 3D printed aluminum
components, each designed with multi-functional purposes to connect
skins, mount motors and/or support landing gear, and provide channels
for wiring.

What separates the 55-pound HYDRA from a more conventional quad-rotor
UAV is its seamless transition from vertical take-off and hover to
flight by flipping forward.

“The idea is to take this concept and push it to the maximum,”
explained Michel Dion, manager of innovation, during a recent tour of
Bell’s production facility in Mirabel, Quebec. “Right now it is not
mission driven . . . it’s really about innovation . . . playing with
the parameters and the variables.”

Engineers have been exploring the ring or closed-wing aircraft since
the early 1900s, but it’s only in recent years that materials have
become light enough to make it work efficiently, Dion said. The intent
of the project is to gather data on flight characteristics, including
aircraft size, quantity and configuration of motors, and of blade
shapes, as well as the strengths and properties of various materials.

“This wasn’t designed for any specific mission. It was to develop the
ring-wing concept and learn the algorithms of the flight
characteristics of this aircraft,” said Kevin Morris, the engineer
behind the project.

But by understanding how the aircraft performs with distributed
propulsion, they believe HYDRA may validate a range of missions,
including passenger transportation.

“There are certain aerodynamic effects of using this type of shape,”
said Dion. “It’s not only for an urban air taxi; we’re developing
basic knowledge for multiple possible missions.”

For the autopilot system, Bell is working with ARA Robotique, a
Montreal start-up with a strategic association to the École de
technologie supérieure de Montréal. The partnership has benefited both
parties, providing ARA access to other companies in the aerospace
sector and Bell with an advanced skill set not resident in-house.

Dion said the focus of the project to date has been on “the hover
part” and the team is now transitioning to forward flight. “We are
working on developing the controllers for the three axis of control,
developing the science for how can we control this type of aircraft
with multiple rotors without having a pitch ability [for] each blade,
just with the speed of each motor. When you are in hover, for example,
the aircraft will act like a helicopter — the yaw, the pitch, the roll
will act like a helicopter. At some point when we transition to wing
borne, we have to tell the aircraft ‘You are not flying like an
airplane.’ We have to make that transfer [of] movement of the
aircraft.”

Test flight duration has been modest — about 25 minutes — and speed
has been limited, but the aircraft has proved remarkably stable in
hover and forward flight, even in strong cross winds. And while HYDRA
includes flaps that could be used to control yaw in hover and roll
while in flight, for the moment the team has not employed them,
preferring to keep the number of moving parts to just the motors and
blades.

“We have different props in mind so you can move more air,” said
Morris. “We’re going to start playing with pitch. What is the ultimate
pitch for this aircraft [to generate] forward speed?”

The project has been a collaboration between designers and engineers
in Mirabel and Bell helicopter’s headquarters in Fort Worth, Texas.
Where it ultimately leads will depend on what the team learns, said
Dion. “We wanted to prove the concept and develop our knowledge
first.”

But Bell often works with universities and industry consortia such as
the Consortium for Aerospace Research and Innovation in Canada and,
while it’s still at a low technology readiness level, the HYDRA
platform could serve as a testbed for academic situational awareness,
autonomy, and composite materials-related projects, he noted.
-----------------------------------------